News headline screenshot viewing system

ABSTRACT

A screenshot viewing system showing updated headlines  4, 5  captured from a chain of local, national and international news organisations  2  which has a feature that allows users to view images  1, 3  read the headlines at a glance and not necessarily the body of the news text  6.  These screenshots (FIGS.  1 - 6 ) can also be scrolled  6  and  7  to allow the viewing of all the headlines on the page and it can also be zoomed  12, 13,  and  14  to fit any webpage size into the screenshot capture. These screenshots which can be shared with other users and external parties are arranged in a matrix/radial configuration and are generally readable by persons with normal or near normal visual acuity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of Online News Capture. It is a screenshot viewing system which relates to providing screenshots of news websites within a webpage in such a way or scale that the headlines are easily readable while the texts are either not readable or difficult to read which will cause the reader to click a button to bring up the originating news website if he/she found the headline interesting.

News is a very important part of the day to day life of an average person. The consumer demand for news has been increased greatly due to the spread of education and internet technological evolution and innovation. Internet technological advancement has made access to news more generic and hence people now have access to more news portals via the internet. Though individuals now have access to news online, they also want to have updated and accurate news hence the need to gather their facts from multiple news source which currently is done using RSS feeds. When people go online to search for the latest news headline, they either go to the news page directly or through news aggregator sites (multiple news providers within a single page or website) most of the news provided is in form of news text e.g. RSS feeds.

However, the current use of news headline aggregator sites only or primarily displays text feeds which highly limits the user experience within that aggregation platform. When a news headline consumer or a user of a news aggregation website/facility can only view latest text headlines in a news aggregation website, and unable to see the news headline as it is in the webpage of the news provider which in most cases consists of images and texts feeds, this can limit the user's ability to see accompanying imagery of the headline which could reveal more to the user not mentioned in the body of the headline text. Furthermore, searching individual news portals for specific news to look for headlines and accompanying imagery which can reveal hidden unspoken information about the headline could be a herculean task. The News headline screenshot viewing system is able to solve this problem.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is a system where carefully scaled or zoomed screenshots are captured from online news providers and shows updated headlines while taking advantage of the relative large size of headlines. The predetermined scale of the snapshots (screenshots) is such that for majority of online news providers the headlines are readily readable, the images are readily perceivable while the small text of the website which constitutes the body of the news is either very difficult to read or outright unreadable. This allows users to aggregate and read their favourite headlines and if interested in reading the news body (usually in small text) will click the screenshot or a designated button to proceed to the originating site. As some news headlines are at lower portions of the page, this screenshots can be scrolled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows a typical screenshot reflecting the viewing system (in bold boundary line), major and minor headlines (in bold boundary line), news images (in light boundary line) and news body (in very light boundary line).

FIG. 2 shows a typical screenshot as captured to demonstrate the scrolling element (before scrolling).

FIG. 3 shows a typical screenshot scrolled down to further demonstrate the scrolling element (after scrolling).

FIG. 4 shows a typical screenshot zoomed in/enlarged to demonstrate the zooming element (after zooming).

FIG. 5 a typical screenshot as captured to demonstrate the zooming element (before zooming).

FIG. 6 shows a typical screenshot zoomed out/shrunk to further demonstrate the zooming element (after zooming).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention is a screenshot viewing system which relates to providing screenshots of news websites within a webpage in such a way or scale that the headlines are easily readable while the texts are either not readable or difficult to read. This invention carefully takes into consideration and applies to screen resolution ranges and sizes, user visual acuity which can be medically classified as normal or near normal.

These featured news screenshots are displayed in a resolution which allows the readability of the headlines and can be suitably read by a reader/viewer with a visual acuity that is classed between normal (20/20) feet and near-normal (20/63) feet by a qualified medical practitioner. The invention applies to display screens which have the following attributes; size range of 9.7″-17″, and an allowable screen resolution ranging from 800×600 pixels to 2048×1536 pixels. The screenshots can be arranged in a matrix/radial pattern. Under these circumstance, the screenshots captures the originating news website in such a scale as to allow users to read headlines and make it difficult to read the news body which providing a lint to the originating webpage.

The screenshots can be scrolled down to view large font headlines located at lower portions of the webpage.

The screenshots can be zoomed within se limits to allow users to read news headlines which have text sizes which are bigger than the body text yet smaller than the average news headline text.

The invention of this screenshot viewing system will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

In FIG. 1, the screenshot 10 is illustrated showing the name and logo of the news organisation 2 which might or might not be readable, possible advertising banner 1, the major headline 4 and the minor headline 5 which are the focus and should be readable as captured or when zoomed within set limits, the visible image 3 which also should be perceivable and the small unreadable or difficult to read text 6. The user can select the news website to follow its updates by typing or copy and pasting the URL in the aggregator website which has been designed to capture the respective news pages as screenshots. When the screenshot image or a select button assigned to that screenshot is clicked, the user is then linked to the originating webpage.

FIG. 2 explains the scroll function of the screenshot 10 which allows for the viewing of lower portions of the screenshot in the event that news headlines are at the lower end of the page. Its uses the traditional scroll function which has a slider 7 and a slider track 9 which could vary along the side length of the screenshot 8.

FIG. 3 shows the lower portion of the screenshot which in most cases contain the news text body 11.

FIG. 4 shows the zoom function of the screenshot. It shows the zoomed in state of the screenshot 12 which makes the headlines bigger and easily readable in the case of webpages with tinier headlines.

FIG. 5 shows the zoom function of the screenshot. It shows the normal zoom state of the screenshot 13 which is suitable for the majority of websites and is readable by persons with normal and near-normal acuity.

FIG. 6 shows the zoom function of the screenshot. It shows the zoomed-out state of the screenshot 14 which make the headlines 4, 5, image 3, and news body smaller and more difficult to read but are only usable for websites where the headlines are very large and tend to spill out of the screen. 

1. A method of providing screenshots of news websites in such a way or scale that the headlines are easily readable while the texts are either not readable or difficult to read within a display which has the following attributes; 9.7″-17″ screen/display sizes and an allowable screen resolution ranging from 800×600 pixels to 2048×1536 pixels, and by a reader/viewer with a visual acuity that is classed between normal (20/20) feet and near-normal (20/63) feet by a qualified medical practitioner.
 2. These screenshots as exactly described in claim 1, would be scrollable to allow the viewing of the lower portions of the screenshot.
 3. The screenshots as exactly described in claim 1, in which a zoom function allows the headline screenshots scale to be controlled to achieve the description in claim
 1. 